The Modern Interior

(Wang) #1

wall cupboards, fittings, carpet and upholstery’ of the lady’s dressing


room, for example, were ‘restricted to black, white and light grey, in order


to provide a subtle foil for the clothes donned by the lady of the house’.^14


Such was the depth of Hoffmann’s understanding of the occupier’s pres-


ence in his spaces. However, while he was committed to the total unifica-


tion of the interior in the houses he created for his clients, in his own


homes the architect allowed himself a more eclectic approach, mixing


older pieces with new furniture items he designed himself.^15


The decorative schemes developed by the Viennese designers were


disseminated through the pages of Deutsche Kunst und Dekorationand


quickly became popular internationally. In The House in Good TasteElsie


de Wolfe recorded her awareness of the Werkstätte’s interiors. ‘Black and


white’, she wrote, ‘is always a tempting combination to the decorator, and


now that Josef Hoffmann, the great Austrian decorator, has been working


in black and white for a number of years, the more venturesome decor -


ators of France, England and America have begun to follow his lead and


are using black and white, and black and color, with amazing effect.’^16


Hoffmann also exerted a strong influence on many of his students. Lillian


Langseth-Christensen, for example, who had studied under him at the


Kunstgewerbe School, explained in her 1987 autobiography that ‘Deutsche


Kunst und Dekorationhad shown me how a bedroom should look. It was


no longer a place for a bed, a night table, a chiffonier that was too high


to look into the top drawer, a dresser and a chair. It was, instead, a place


of glossy white enamel, of flush-fronted, built-in cabinets, a built-in-the-


niche bed, and a cozy sitting corner.’^17 A branch of the Wiener Werkstätte


opened in New York in the 1920 s. The interior of its showroom was


designed by the Viennese émigré architect, Josef Urban, who had already


established himself as an interior and exhibition designer prior to his


arrival in New York in 1911. Urban went on to design sets for the Metro -


politan Opera and the Ziegfeld Follies, as well as numerous film sets for


William Randolph Hearst. His theatrical approach, with its emphasis on


the effects of light and colour and its sympathetic relationship with the


costumes worn by the occupants of his interiors, had its roots in Viennese


interior decoration. He relied heavily upon the role of modern decoration


to express modern identities and to provide suitable backcloths for the


‘performers’ of modern life. In 1933 he applied his theatrical skills to


the overall colour scheme for Chicago’s Century of Progress exhibition.


In 1916 an American writer, Hazel H. Adler, published her book,


The New Interior: Modern Decoration for the Home. Adler took a more 97

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